Peter Neronha makes it official, announces run for RI attorney general

Friday

Oct 6, 2017 at 3:08 PMOct 6, 2017 at 3:11 PM

By Maria Josť / O Jornal correspondent

JAMESTOWN — Honoring his immigrant ancestors, former U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha announced last Tuesday his run for Attorney General of Rhode Island, standing on the waterfront of Jamestown, where his Azorean grandfather and father worked on the ferries.

The 53-year-old democrat made his intentions known to a 100-plus crowd of former colleagues, relatives and supporters.

“I’m running because when Donald Trump decided in March that my work for the people of Rhode Island was finished, I decided that it wasn’t,” he announced from the podium.

Neronha, who was forced to resign March 10 with 45 other U.S. Attorneys at the behest of the Donald Trump administration, told O Jornal that his professional experience has prepared him well to serve as the state’s top prosecutor.

“For the last 20 years, I have had one client – the people of the State of Rhode Island,” he said. “Having worked at the Attorney General’s Office and later leading the US Attorney’s Office, I have 20 years of experience in what the Attorney General’s Office does.”

His tenure as US Attorney was marked by a number of public corruption cases, including the probes that led to the downfall of former Democratic House Speaker Gordon Fox, former House Finance Chairman Raymond Gallison, and former Central Falls Mayor Charles Moreau, among others.

While making his announcement on Tuesday, Neronha said Rhode Island needs a top prosecutor with the “independence and experience” to take on public corruption.

“Rhode Island has a well-earned reputation for political corruption, and that reputation is holding this state back economically and in other ways,” he said in his speech. “We need all of our public officials – every one of them – to do what most are already doing, serve the people, not themselves.”

In addition to battling public corruption, Neronha said his top priorities as attorney general would include curbing the opioid crisis, violent crime and child sex trafficking, and protecting consumers and taxpayers’ money from waste and abuse.

While illegal immigration is a concern, Neronha said local law enforcement should not be detaining undocumented people and doing the work of immigration agents.

“Their focus should be and needs to be on those people that are committing and driving violent crime — whether they are citizens, lawful permanent residents or green card holders or undocumented immigrants. Local and state law enforcement needs to focus on violent crime — that should be its top priority,” Neronha told O Jornal, adding that a rational immigration policy is needed and the borders need to be secured with a smart strategy.

As far as President Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Neronha classified it as a “mistake” and “unfair for the Dreamers.”

“It’s wrong to penalize and deport young people that were brought here as children and in many instances to be deported to a country they know nothing about and not even speak the language,” said Neronha, whose mother Veronica immigrated here from Germany at the age of 19 having no knowledge of English.

“My parents worked very hard and I am so very proud of them,” said Neronha from the podium, acknowledging his father behind him. Manuel Neronha is a veteran of the Korean War who worked in the coal fired engine room of the Jamestown ferry and later on for the bridge authority.

Neronha’s great grandfather was a fisherman in St. Michael, Azores, and continued that activity after he settled in Portsmouth, R.I. A few years later, the family settled in Jamestown, where Neronha has lived all his life and raised his two boys, Zackary and Joshua, with his wife Dr. Shelley Johnson, a primary care physician in South County.

Neronha is the first candidate to throw his hat into the ring for the post. State Sen. Donna Nesselbush, D-Pawtucket, has said she is considering running, as has State Rep. Robert Craven, D-North Kingstown.

Current Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, a two-term Democrat, cannot run again due to term limits.

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